GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Feb 7, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israel on
Tuesday said it was examining Hamas's response to a plan to halt nearly four
months of fighting in Gaza, after key mediator Qatar said the Palestinian
militants had given a "positive" reply to the proposed agreement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fifth tour of the region since
the war broke out in October, arrived in Israel to discuss what he called an
"essential" agreement.

"We have received a reply from Hamas with regards to the general framework of
the agreement with regards to hostages," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani said after meeting Blinken in Doha.

"The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive."

Hamas confirmed it delivered its response to proposals hammered out a week
ago in Paris between Qatar and other mediators.

Blinken said Hamas's reply had been "shared" with Israel and he would discuss
it there on Wednesday.

"We're studying it intensely... and we will be working as hard as we possibly
can to try to get an agreement," he said.

Israel's spy agency Mossad also received the Hamas response, the prime
minister's office said, and "its details are being thoroughly evaluated".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment directly on the response
but said on Tuesday: "We are on the way to the total victory and we will not
stop. This position represents the overwhelming majority of the people."

- Fighting rages -

The war started with unprecedented Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7,
which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians,
according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized around 250 hostages. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza,
including 29 who are believed to have been killed.

Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel has launched air strikes and a land
offensive that have killed at least 27,585 people in Gaza, mostly women and
children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The United Nations, rights groups and charities have deplored the
"catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's campaign has devastated swathes of Gaza, destroyed hospitals and
displaced half of its population of 2.4 million, while food, water, fuel and
medicine are in dire shortage.

Heavy strikes and fighting continued on Tuesday, with Gaza's health ministry
saying at least 107 people were killed in 24 hours, including six policemen
securing an aid truck.

Fears have mounted for more than a million Palestinians sheltering in the far
southern city of Rafah, after Israeli warnings it was the next target of its
campaign to eradicate Hamas.

The army "will reach places where we have not yet fought... right up to the
last Hamas bastion, which is Rafah", Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant
said on Monday.

Safia Marouf, who sought refuge in Rafah with her family after being uprooted
from their home further north, said she was afraid of what is to come.

"The children are scared all the time, and if we want to leave Rafah, we
don't know where to go. What will be our destiny and that of our children?"

- Diplomatic push -

Blinken met Qatari leaders on Tuesday after stops in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," Blinken said in Doha after being
informed of Hamas's reply.

"But we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed
essential," he said.

The Qatari premier said he was "optimistic" but declined to discuss the Hamas
reply in detail, citing the "sensitivity of the circumstances".

Last week, a Hamas source said the truce deal calls for a six-week pause to
fighting as Hamas frees hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held
by Israel and more aid for Gaza.

On Monday, Netanyahu said Hamas had presented "demands that we will not
accept" for an exchange involving thousands of prisoners.

The Israeli leader is under pressure to end the war and bring the hostages
home, amid divisions within his cabinet and public fury over the fate of the
remaining captives.

Israeli troops, with air and naval support, have been engaged in heavy combat
centred on Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas's
Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7
attack.

The army on Tuesday said that "over the past day, dozens of terrorists have
been killed" and around 80 people were arrested.

"The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is beyond catastrophic," said
Tommaso Della Longa, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies.

Around 8,000 displaced people had been evacuated from the besieged Al-Amal
hospital in Khan Yunis, where they had sought refuge, after weeks of heavy
shelling and fighting nearby, he added.

- Lebanon strikes -

The United States has strongly backed Israel with munitions and diplomatic
support but also urged steps to reduce civilian casualties.

As the Gaza war has raged, violence has also flared in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria
and Yemen, where Iran-backed groups have launched attacks in support of
Hamas, triggering counterattacks by Israel, the United States and its
partners.

The Israeli army said on Tuesday that strikes from Lebanon lightly wounded
two soldiers and that it retaliated with artillery fire.

Its fighter jets had also targeted bases of the Iran-backed Hezbollah
movement near Marwahin and Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthis have for weeks been targeting what they say are
Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in solidarity with
Palestinians.

The attacks have disrupted global trade and prompted reprisals by US and
British forces, including strikes on two "explosive-laden drone boats" on
Monday, according to the US military.

The Huthis on Tuesday said they had struck US and British commercial ships in
two separate attacks.